Ruminations on Life, the Universe and Everything... But mostly, Pakistan and Pakistani media...

Friday, October 8, 2010

Rent Boys

It's late. I am tired. So I'm not going to write a proper post. But I still want to put this clip out there, for people to see and hear and to comment on.

The topic of the Riz Khan programme on Al-Jazeera English is Pak-US relations - whether they have reached a breaking point. In particular, listen in to what C. Christine Fair (Georgetown professor and Pakistan analyst) has to say about drones and the Pakistani media beginning around 5:10. She points out that the claims of collateral damage from the drone strikes are usually unsubstantiated (absolutely true, but as much I suppose as American claims of having taken out specific terrorists) and that "the interesting side of Pakistan's new vibrant media is that a lot of it is for rent." (Can just imagine the spluttering by Hamid Mir on Capital Talk soon.)

But would actually encourage you to see the whole programme. Some good stuff from General Talat Masood too. And a pessimistic outlook from Fair towards the end. Thanks to @takhalus for the link.

i have no problem with journalists being on rent in a free market - caveat emptor after all... but there are important journalists in pakistan (talat hussain, nusrat javed etc) just as in the US who are not for rent.

I think nowadays, sadly, most journalists have been "rented" including the esteemed Western ones. The Wall Street Journal has been rented by the Pentagon. Whenever the US wants to beat Pakistan up they "leak" the news first to the WSJ. That is why people are giving up on the main media outlets and turning to blogs.

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